by Levine, Nina
I followed her and closed the door behind us. She led me into a living room, and I took note of the warmth in her home. Family photos lined walls, and flowers and art filled other spaces. Leaning in close to look at some of the photos, I saw the couple with their daughter in most of them. An outsider who had no idea of what went on in this family would assume they were a happy one.
“What do you want, Mr. King?” she asked, wrapping her arms around herself. “I’m busy and have work to do.”
I drew my gaze from the photos to look at her. “How long has your husband been abusing you?”
She flinched. “I’m not about to discuss my—”
I clenched my jaw. “How fucking long?”
She flinched again, and I realised she was shaking. When she answered me, I had to work hard to hear her. “A while.”
“I’m taking that to mean this has been going on for as long as you’ve been together. And from what I know of you after reading the notes I have on your family, that means he’s been abusing you for ten fucking years.” The motherfucking cunt.
Straightening, she attempted to get herself under control. My anger appeared to trigger her defensiveness. When she spoke again, she was more like the woman I’d met. “It’s really none of your business, but no this hasn’t been going on for ten years. He wasn’t like this in the beginning. He went through some personal stuff five years ago, and that’s when it started. We’re working through it.”
I wasn’t one to judge. My anger was directed squarely at her husband, but it frustrated me that a smart woman like her couldn’t hear the shit coming out of her mouth. “Isabel, I would imagine if you took a long hard look at the beginning of your relationship, you would find signs of this side of him.” I glanced down at a photo of their daughter. This was where my frustration with women like Isabel came into play. Children needed to be protected at all costs. “Does he hit your child?”
When I looked back up at her, I didn’t need to hear her answer; I already knew it. “Fucking hell,” I muttered.
“I’m leaving him,” she blurted out.
“Are you?” I demanded. “Do you have a fucking plan in place or are you just fucking thinking about it until the next time he hits you?” When she started crying, I raked my fingers through my hair and muttered, “Fuck.”
She dropped down onto the couch and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. “He has power I don’t have. You don’t understand. He will find me wherever I go.”
She was right; he did have power. The asshole had an international business spread across three continents. He wouldn’t struggle to find her if she ran.
“You want him out of your life?”
Her head snapped up, and she looked at me, wide-eyed. She knew what I was asking. And with only one moment of hesitation, she silently gave me her answer with a quick nod.
I left without another word spoken between us. I’d gone there to take care of business for Storm. Instead, I hadn’t fucking taken care of business; I’d taken on another job. But the life it would save was more than worth the sacrifice. Isabel Stark’s daughter needed a mother more than I needed her dead. I would find another way to take care of club business.
As I left her house, Ivy called. “King, I really need your help. Brian’s not here, and I have to go see a guy who just called me about a possible job. Are you able to come pick me up and take me? Please?”
I would have preferred not to get involved in this. I wanted to help her get back on her feet, but I didn’t want to encourage her to rely on me all the time. “There’s a bus stop down the road, Ivy. Catch the bus. I’m in the middle of shit.”
Silence, and then—“Yeah, I know, but I was hoping we could go over some stuff together afterwards.”
“What kind of stuff?”
“Just some plans I have that I’d really like your opinion on.”
Fuck. “Okay, I’m on my way, but I don’t have all fucking day for this.”
“God, no need to bite my head off. I’m just feeling a bit lost here, and you know me better than anyone, so I kinda feel like you’re the best person to ask.”
“I’ll be there.”
I shoved the phone into my pocket and exhaled sharply. I’d do this for her today, but if she kept calling, I’d have to put a stop to it. She needed to move on with her life. Without calling on me all the time.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lily
“Jamie’s coming over tonight. I hope that’s okay, Lil,” Brynn said to me late Friday afternoon while we sat on my couch inhaling wine. Well, I was inhaling wine, because it had been a long day in the pits of hell dealing with shitty patients and an even shittier boss. Jackson really needed to take that holiday he’d been putting off. Brynn was on Coke because of her medication, but I was pretty sure she wished it was wine.
I frowned at her. “Why wouldn’t it be okay? I love him.”
“I already feel like I’m in your way. I don’t want to subject you to him any more than you can handle.”
I chugged some more wine. “Look, it’s been a long day, and I’m tired, and so I’m just gonna say this however the fuck it comes out of my mouth. You’re my sister. I love you a lot more than I even know what to do with. I would do anything for you. And like I said, I love him.” I raised my glass at her as I added, “Oh, and you got me my favourite cake. No one ever buys me cake. Keep that shit up. You can do whatever the fuck you want if you buy me cake.”
She laughed. “I’m pretty sure you’ve been spending too much time with King lately. Look at all those fucks falling out of your mouth.”
I grinned. I had been spending a lot of time with my man. He’d had dinner here and stayed over every night for the last week, and he was coming over again tonight. “Do you like him, Brynny?”
Her face softened. “It doesn’t matter if I like him. It only matters if you do.”
“Yeah, I know, but you’ve always been a good judge of people, so I’m interested to know what you think.”
“I like him. Like, I really like him for you. He has this way of taking charge when you need that, and then at other times, he just sits back and lets you run around like a chook without a head. You’re an independent woman with a crazy streak, and King seems able to handle that while at the same time, giving it to you straight when he has a different opinion on something. And let me just say, I really like the way he handles Mum. I’ve never seen a man get her to do what he wants the way King does.”
It made me happy that she liked him. I agreed with her that it only mattered if I liked him, but it meant the world to me that she also did.
“Oh, I meant to tell you I saw John Travolta again today, but it wasn’t at the hospital this time. He was in the same freaking aisle as me in the supermarket, buying the same freaking cheese as me. And I swear to you he really does look like Travolta.” When I’d told Brynn about this guy the first time, she’d asked me if I was hallucinating and imagining that he looked like John Travolta, because in her mind there was only one man alive as hot as him. My sister had a Travolta crush that had lasted decades, and we’d watched Grease together at least thirty times.
“Did you speak to him?”
I took a swig of wine and nodded. “Yes, and then we had a conversation about cheese and wine, and it was like he didn’t wanna stop talking. I had to be kinda rude to him to get away from him. He’s good-looking, but way creepy.”
“Ugh. So nowhere near the real thing.”
“Definitely not.”
Mum interrupted our conversation. “Lily, why must you insist on mixing colours with whites when you do your washing?” she asked, wandering into the room holding a pair of pants of hers that used to be white. She looked stricken that they were now pink. I had to hold my laughter in, and when she saw that, her lips flattened. “This isn’t funny! I was going to wear these on my date tonight.”
“You have a date tonight, Ma?” Brynn asked.
“Yes, with a gentleman I met at the library today.�
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“No one needs to be wearing white pants on a date, Mum,” I said. Shifting off the couch, I grabbed her by the arm and led her into my bedroom as I said, “I have the perfect outfit you can borrow.”
“Oh, Lily, I really don’t think—” Her mouth clamped shut as she eyed the dress I held up. Her face brightened, and she took the dress off me. “Well, maybe this will do.”
I grabbed a pair of shoes out for her, too. “It will more than do. I guarantee that if you wear this dress and these shoes, and you let me fix your hair, this man will be doing everything he can to get in your pants.”
That was my mother’s language, and she practically ripped the shoes from my hands. “I need to be ready in an hour and a half. I’ll call out when I’m ready for you to do my hair.” With that, she exited my room faster than I’d seen her move in a long time. She must have really liked this dude.
“And I didn’t mix the colours and whites,” I called out. “It was one of the kids.” God, I was a grown woman who still needed her mother to know when she hadn’t screwed something up. That was some crazy shit right there.
“Mum,” Zara said from the doorway as I closed my wardrobe. The way her voice wavered caused me to turn to her without delay, and what I saw on her face broke my heart. The minute our eyes met, tears fell down her cheeks and she rushed towards me. “Sam broke up with me.”
My arms circled her, and I pulled her tightly against me. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.”
We stayed like that for a long time as she cried her heart out. Sam had been her first real boyfriend, and I remembered how I’d been crushed when my first boyfriend broke up with me. While I may have been secretly cheering on the inside that she wasn’t with the little shit anymore, I hated that she was hurting.
I moved us to the bed and pulled her into my arms while we sat against the headboard. Smoothing her hair, I said, “Do you wanna talk about what happened? I’m easy either way, but if you need to talk, I’m here.”
She looked up at me, tears still filling her eyes. “He’s with Carmen Breen now. And I’m pretty sure they were doing stuff behind my back.” With that, another wave of tears overtook her. Little fucking shit. I should have let King have a word with him.
I squeezed my arms hard around her, as if by holding her so freaking tightly, I could keep all the bad stuff away from her. My instinct to protect her had never been so strong. Maybe I could lock her in this house for the next ten years.
She and I still hadn’t gotten around to having a conversation I was satisfied with over whether she and Sam’d had sex, but thankfully she’d gotten her period so I knew she wasn’t pregnant at least. But as many times as I’d asked her about sex, she’d brushed me off and told me no. I suspected she was lying, and I debated whether to broach the subject now when she wiggled out of my embrace, looked at me, and said, “I did have sex with him.”
Oh God.
My tummy practically cramped up with stress.
I really will lock her in this house for ten straight years.
Maybe twenty.
Reaching for my hand, she said, “Mum, it’s okay, we used a condom. And we only did it once. And that was only this week.”
My heart beat furiously against my chest.
She was far too young for this.
Far too young.
Where did I go wrong?
I failed as a parent.
Failed with a capital F.
“Mum.”
I blinked and found her staring at me. “Zara,” I started, but my voice broke and no more words came.
“You were right about everything.”
I blinked again. “About what?”
“That I wasn’t ready for sex yet. And that Sam’s a shit. He’s been trying to get me to have sex for ages, and then he told me there was no point in us dating if I wasn’t going to do it with him. So I did it, and then when I told him I didn’t want to do it again just yet, he broke up with me. So yeah, you were right, and I wish I’d listened to you.”
“That little fucking shit. I’ll fucking go and tell him what I think of him myself.” God, if I could wring his neck, I would. How dare he treat my daughter that way?
She grinned. “I like this new you.”
“What new me?”
“This you that just says it like it is.”
“I’ve always said it like it is.”
“Not this much. I don’t know, you just seem easier about things, not as tense all the time. I mean, you could stop harassing me about studying more and stuff, but mostly you seem happier these days. I like it.”
I squeezed her hand before letting it go. “So you aren’t in a hurry to have sex again?”
“I don’t know. I guess it depends who I date next.”
Oh God, please strike all the boys down in her school. Take them all out. Hit them with lightning or some shit.
I took a deep breath. “Promise me something.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “What?”
I reached out and pushed a stray hair off her face. My heart constricted at how beautiful she was. It was no wonder the boys were chasing her. I shuddered to think about the next few years. I would be fighting them off. No, King will be fighting them off for you. Remember he said he wouldn’t allow a daughter out on a date without his eyes on her. You can make him do that in exchange for sexual favours. “Promise me you’ll talk to me about it before you decide to have sex again.” When she pulled a face, I said, “I’m serious, Zara. We don’t need to discuss the physical stuff unless you want to, but I want you to talk to me about how you’re feeling in here”—I placed my hand to her heart—“because that’s mine to protect while you’re still growing and finding yourself. And I’ll be fucked if I’ll let any other little shit break it without me knowing to get the bandages out.”
Her breaths slowed as she took that in. Finally, she nodded and agreed. “Okay.” She then threw her arms around my neck and hugged me for the longest time. By the time she let me go, we were both crying. “I love you, Mum. But man, you swear a lot these days.”
I wiped my tears away and shrugged. “You’re nearly fifteen, and it’s the language you respond to.”
She grinned. “So I can start saying it in the house?”
“Let’s not get too excited. I don’t plan on saying it often. Just when I need to get my point across to you.”
“Trust me, Mum, you get your point across just fine.”
“Well, I would argue with that, because usually you’re arguing with me, not sitting on my bed talking to me.”
“Yeah,” she said softly, “but I’m always listening to you.”
I grabbed her face with both hands and planted a big smooshy kiss on her lips that she wouldn’t usually allow anywhere near her. “Maybe you could give me a heads-up every now and then that you’re paying attention, because honestly, I’m flailing over here some days thinking you hate me.”
She moved off the bed, grinning again. “Nah, I’d rather make you work for it.”
I watched her as she walked out of the room until I couldn’t see her anymore. I then face-planted into my bed, feeling all kinds of weird emotions. This parenting gig was freaking hard, and I really wasn’t convinced I was going to make it through in one piece.
“Lily, you in here? I’m here early to take the kids.” I sat up to find Linc standing in the doorway, watching me with a frown. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just had a talk with Zara about boys. I need a cask of wine now.” I paused. “Wait, why are you being nice to me?” While he’d been making an effort with the kids, he’d been icy to me ever since I’d told him we weren’t getting back together.
“Fuck, I’m not a bastard all the time, Lil.”
“Well, you have been lately.”
His face clouded with displeasure. “I had good reason. You chose that asshole over me when all I was trying to do was be there for you.”
I sighed. Would he ever understand? “Linc, it wasn’t a competitio
n. You and I weren’t even on the cards. You made your choice years ago, and I’ve just been trying to figure out how to live with it since then. I finally have, and King came along at the right time. And while I appreciated all your help, don’t do stuff for me if you’re just looking for me to do stuff in return. I mean, I believe in give-and-take, but not for the sake of just getting shit out of people. I feel like after all these years, you and I should be there for each other out of respect and for the kids.”
He listened to what I had to say, but all he said in reply was, “Okay, well I’m going to round the kids up so we can make it to the movie on time. Are you good with me keeping them for two nights?”
“Yes.” I smiled. “I like this new thing we have going.”
“What?”
“Where you want to spend lots of time with them. They love it, too.”
“Yeah,” he said and then left me in peace.
I had no idea if he’d really listened to what I said, but a girl could hope. And pray. Maybe I should take that up.
I reached for my phone and sent King a text. I hadn’t sent him any today, and good God they were a good way to get him ready for me. He usually told me to stop sending him shit, but I had a sneaky suspicion he was starting to warm to them.
Me: Whatcha doing?
He took a good few minutes to come back.
King: Club shit
Me: Are you thinking about me?
King: Fuck, Lily I’m busy
Me: Well, for what it’s worth, I’m thinking about you. And I’m thinking it would be really freaking good if we played with some toys tonight. You don’t know this about me yet, but I have some. And while I know you’re a man who has all the goods, I think I have some you might like.
Three minutes passed.
King: Fucking hell woman
Me: You want pictures? Gimme a minute to get some for you.
He rang. “For fuck’s sake, I’m dealing with a fuckload of headaches today, and I don’t fucking need you to send me any pictures. And I really don’t fucking need to be thinking about you when I’m trying to sort this shit out. I’ll be over in about two hours, and I suggest you have a bag packed that contains whatever toys you want me to use on you tonight. We clear?”